Traditional wool markets ‘still have potential’

Press, 28 July 1989, Page 19

Traditional wool markets ‘still have potential’

The New Zealand wool industry could not afford to ignore the potential in its traditional world markets despite the growth in new markets, such as China, says the managing director (designate) of the New Zealand Wool Board, Dr Grant Sinclair.

“We must not lose sight of markets where consumers are willing to pay high prices for top quality goods,” Dr Sinclair told a farmers’ seminar at Mayfield this week.

In the United States, price was often a secondary consideration for consumers. The main requirements often involved the general design and appearance of the product.

Speciality flooring was a tremendous growth area in the United States. Rather than a threat to the New Zealand wool carpet sector, this offered

good opportunities for wool carpets provided the right products were available.

Dr Sinclair said the non-apparel side of the wool industry was a challenge facing New Zealand.

He suggested wool producers look for cost savings in production, no matter how small. With wool returning about 600 c a kilogram, it was easy to regard amounts of a few cents as unimportant. Dr Sinclair said the wool industry had no reason to be complacent and must continue to change otherwise it would lose ground. He was optimistic, however, the future for wool was good. A way for farmers to improve wool production was to ensure young stock maintained good growth rates and adults avoided losing weight, especially during summer and winter, said Dr Ken Geenty, a wool production officer for the board. There were several advantages of feeding sheep well. As well as increasing fleece weights which led to better wool quality,

there was improved feed conversion efficiency, fewer wool faults such as cotting and tenderness, and enhanced meat production. But there were no easy blueprints for success and methods of achieving high wool production varied with the different conditions on each farm. A simple barometer for wool production was the liveweight of sheep. Feeding sheep well in summer to maintain their liveweights resulted in more wool growth, while good feeding in winter when wool growth was slower resulted in improved wool quality. Dr Geenty said if farmers minimised the fluctuations in liveweight throughout the year, wool production could lift by 15 to 20 per cent and quality would improve. Trial results had shown that tenderness could al-

most be eliminated by good feeding in winter. As well, faults such as discolouration and cotting would decline. “Another advantage of feeding ewes well to maintain or gain weight during winter is that they will be more efficient at converting pasture to milk for lambs in spring.” Considerably more feed was required to regain weight that was lost during summer or winter than was saved. Ways of minimising or avoiding liveweight loss during summer and winter are — • Including pasture varieties with better summer and winter growth; • Altering management and/or stocking rate so the impact of seasonal pasture shortage was lowered; • Using supplements and/or greenfeed and root crops when pasture was scarce.